When it comes to food, our inner gourmand will always say that more is better (even if our appetite disagrees and we end up seriously regretting that last course later). So why stop at one style of dining when you could have half a dozen?
Asian fusion is the newest cuisine mash-up to make it’s way onto menus everywhere and it seems we can’t get enough. Combining flavours, techniques and ingredients from Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, Korean and beyond can be a hard ask, but we’ve found a few places who are getting it just right.
LONgTIME | Fortitude Valley
LONgTIME don’t just combine Asian flavours, there’s inspiration from everywhere from India to Mexico on their wild and wonderful menu. Between the soft shell crab bao with apple slaw and the Bangkok taco with crispy prawn laab, you can get in at least 5 international flavours in one sitting. No passport required.
Chop Chop Chang’s | West End
Dining at Chop Chop Chang’s is a journey through the street food of Asia – complete with monkeys. Seriously, their menu has a section called Monkey Snacks with small bites like wok fried chilli peanuts. But you aren’t a monkey, and you can’t live on nuts alone, so we suggest barramundi laksa and corn and coriander cakes too.
Nest | CBD
East meets West and everything in between at Nest, with a wildly eclectic menu featuring some intriguing feeds. Roast duck pizza with mandarin sauce is one of the more unusual fusions, but signature dishes like the white noodle nest and barbeque Beijing duck rolls will make the decision of what to eat mighty hard if you’re the type to whom ‘unusual’ means ‘irresistable’ (that’s us!). Even mi goreng gets a gourmet makeover!
Fat Noodle | CBD
Don’t tell, but we’ve got a bit of a crush on Luke Nguyen. And who wouldn’t? Anyone who can take Vietnamese, Malay, Thai and Chinese cuisine and turn it into caramelized pork belly with quail eggs and tempura battered barramundi with wasabi aioli is totally worth crushing on. And we haven’t even mentioned the Fat Pho Noodles yet!
Libertine | Petrie Terrace
If you think you know all there is to Asian fusion, you ain’t seen nothing until you’ve tried French Vietnamese at Libertine. The marriage of the two cuisines has brought us the likes of slow roasted duck with cherry orange confiture and brioche crumbs and crispy calamari with parmesan, sriracha and ginger mayonnaise. Hello, pancontinental food baby!
Chow House | Fortitude Valley
Take a hefty dose of Asia and add a dash of the Mediterranean and a generous sprinkle of Western tastes and you’ll have the Chow House menu, with every mealtime covered. Duck in for a breakfast of nasi goreng with bacon and egg, a lunchtime satay chicken baguette or a serious dinner of lamb shanks in yellow curry and your cravings for Asian flavours will be well and truly sated.
All we need now is the matching pan Asian drinks list!
Words by Ranyhyn Akui
Nest | CBD
East meets West and everything in between at Nest, with a wildly eclectic menu featuring some intriguing feeds. Roast duck pizza with mandarin sauce is one of the more unusual fusions, but signature dishes like the white noodle nest and barbeque Beijing duck rolls will make the decision of what to eat mighty hard if you’re the type to whom ‘unusual’ means ‘irresistable’ (that’s us!). Even mi goreng gets a gourmet makeover!
Fat Noodle | CBD
Don’t tell, but we’ve got a bit of a crush on Luke Nguyen. And who wouldn’t? Anyone who can take Vietnamese, Malay, Thai and Chinese cuisine and turn it into caramelized pork belly with quail eggs and tempura battered barramundi with wasabi aioli is totally worth crushing on. And we haven’t even mentioned the Fat Pho Noodles yet!
Libertine | Petrie Terrace
If you think you know all there is to Asian fusion, you ain’t seen nothing until you’ve tried French Vietnamese at Libertine. The marriage of the two cuisines has brought us the likes of slow roasted duck with cherry orange confiture and brioche crumbs and crispy calamari with parmesan, sriracha and ginger mayonnaise. Hello, pancontinental food baby!
Chow House | Fortitude Valley
Take a hefty dose of Asia and add a dash of the Mediterranean and a generous sprinkle of Western tastes and you’ll have the Chow House menu, with every mealtime covered. Duck in for a breakfast of nasi goreng with bacon and egg, a lunchtime satay chicken baguette or a serious dinner of lamb shanks in yellow curry and your cravings for Asian flavours will be well and truly sated.
All we need now is the matching pan Asian drinks list!
Words by Ranyhyn Akui
